Chemotherapy for melanoma skin cancer

Chemotherapy uses anticancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells. It is sometimes used to treat melanoma skin cancer. Your healthcare team will consider your personal needs to plan the drugs, doses and schedules of chemotherapy. You may also receive other treatments.

Chemotherapy is given for different reasons. You may have chemotherapy to:

Chemotherapy may be given as a systemic therapy or a regional therapy.

Systemic chemotherapy

Systemic chemotherapy is when the drugs travel through the blood to reach and destroy cancer cells all over the body, including those that may have broken away from the primary tumour on the skin. It is mainly used to help shrink and control the growth of metastatic melanoma skin cancer.

The following are chemotherapy drugs that may be used alone or in combination to treat melanoma skin cancer:

dacarbazine (DTIC) – this is the most common drug used

temozolomide (Temodal)

carboplatin (Paraplatin, Paraplatin AQ)

paclitaxel (Taxol)

cisplatin (Platinol AQ)

vinblastine (Velbe)

Most of these chemotherapy drugs are given through a needle into a vein (intravenously), except temozolomide, which is given by mouth (orally). How often and how long chemotherapy is given depends on the type of drug used, the dose and if other treatments are used. It may be combined with immunotherapy drugs (sometimes called biochemotherapy), such as interferon alfa-2b (Intron A) or interleukin-2 (aldesleukin, Proleukin). For melanoma skin cancer, there are no standard drugs used or length of time systemic chemotherapy is given.

Regional chemotherapy

In regional chemotherapy, the drug is given directly to a specific area of the body. It is rarely given, but may be used for locally recurrent melanoma skin cancer that is only in one arm or leg. It can be done when there are many large tumours that can’t be removed with surgery.

The most common regional chemotherapy drug used is melphalan (Alkeran). Sometimes it is combined with an immunotherapy drug.

Regional chemotherapy is done in a hospital under general anesthesia (you will be unconscious), and you will need to stay in the hospital for a few days. It is only available at special cancer centres.

Side effects

Side effects can happen with any type of treatment for melanoma skin cancer, but everyone’s experience is different. Some people have many side effects. Other people have few or none at all.

Chemotherapy may cause side effects because it can damage healthy cells as it kills cancer cells. If you develop side effects, they can happen any time during, immediately after or a few days or weeks after chemotherapy. Sometimes late side effects develop months or years after chemotherapy. Most side effects go away on their own or can be treated, but some side effects may last a long time or become permanent.

Side effects of chemotherapy will depend mainly on the type of drug, the dose, how it’s given and your overall health.

Some common side effects of systemic chemotherapy drugs used for melanoma skin cancer are:

Tell your healthcare team if you have these side effects or others you think might be from chemotherapy. The sooner you tell them of any problems, the sooner they can suggest ways to help you deal with them.

Information about specific cancer drugs

Details on specific drugs change regularly. Find out more about sources of drug information and where to get details on specific drugs.